Liverpool boss Arne Slot insists Man Utd had a “similar playing style” to Plymouth Argyle with Ruben Amorim’s side kicking “every ball long”.
The Reds were on the wrong end of one of the biggest FA Cup shocks as the Pilgrims beat Slot’s side 1-0 to progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup.
A Ryan Hardie penalty on 53 minutes settled the tie with Liverpool missing a number of chances to get back on level terms in the final half an hour of the match.
Plymouth’s plan worked perfectly as they created a number of good chances of their own and they were rewarded when Harvey Elliott handled inside the area at the beginning of the second half.
And Liverpool boss Slot – who has led the Reds to the top of the Premier League table so far this season – likened the Plymouth playing style to that of arch-rivals Man Utd, who they drew 2-2 with on January 5.
When asked if he had any regrets about his team selection, Slot told reporters: “No, because you never know what will happen if we would have played with our starters over here.
“I think we’ve seen during this season, we’ve seen a few times already, that it’s a game plan, a playing style, which is difficult for our starters, but also for the ones that played today. So, constantly long balls, second balls, long balls, second balls. It’s difficult for every team.
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“We had it with [Manchester] United at home for example as well. They had a similar playing style going to a very low block [then] kick every ball long, and then we played with our starters.
“I think today also showed why we played with the ones we played with today because these players need game rhythm as well. For them to be ready in the upcoming months, they need game time, and you saw today that some of these players really need games like this to be ready for the last three months of the season.”
Asked for his reflections on the match, Slot added: “The result is obvious, it’s a big disappointment, and the way we played [there] wasn’t a lot to be happy about as well. The only thing I was happy about is that the boys kept on fighting for 100 minutes and probably the best part of our game were the last 10 minutes.
“So, that tells you that they kept on fighting. But credit to them, a good game plan, they worked incredibly hard and they got a penalty that was deserved, because it was a clear penalty; a correct decision.
“But that had a lot of impact on the game, of course, because both teams hardly had any chances and all of a sudden you get a penalty kick. Again, which was the correct decision, but they were 1-0 up and kept on fighting until the end. The goalkeeper made one or two good saves in the end, but we hardly created anything at all.”
